The Firefly Chronicles

And finally today I will give you a simple candle spell that is quite easy to do. I know that some of you have been casting for some time, but this podcast is meant to give you information and encourage you to find out more on your own. So, You will need one white candle, a ribbon the color of your intent or desire, a small piece of paper, and something to write with.

Sit in a quiet room where no one will disturb you. Write a wish or desire on the paper. Fold up the paper. Light the candle. Grab your ribbon and repeat your intent or desire 3 times. Then, let the paper burn in the flame. As the smoke rises, it carries your wish to the cosmos. Finally, sear the ends of the ribbon in the flame and tie it in a place where you look often.

This place is a sanctuary, but there is a war going on outside. These brown walls give me thoughts of adobe houses, very earthy and strong. The balcony door lets in lots of light. It is bright and comforting here. I can see the trees across from my window budding. This place was names Audubon Avenue, and all of the streets around here are named for birds. A tribute to the Audubon Society. There are many different cultures of birds that live across the way from me. Their glorious song adds to my sanctuary. My roomate, Lavendar, is enjoying the day next to the balcony door. The breeze blows by, the sun shines in, and she listens to the birds. I think I will make a small bird feeder, so that she can watch them close up.

Unfortunately, she can also hear the enemy gunfire. In front of my home is a great passage way. The people of this place move through it to the outside world. They bring with them noises that disturb my sanctuary, even when my door is closed. Roadside bombs (the garbage truck), suicide bombers (the Jehovah Witness lady who keeps coming to my door), and enemy combatants (the cars that drive by with their radio’s blaring) are all daily hazards we face.

But, for now, all is quiet on Audubon Avenue. That is, except for the birds.

This is the final installment of our series on Reclaiming the Spirit.

For our spirits to be full in flight, all of our colors must show true. We must be secure in all four rooms of our lives. Though we are one being with one path, we exist as a four story house, rolling down the road. Ground-level is our physical room. Above that is our mental room, then higher yet is the emotional room. On top is the spiritual room. When the base is wobbly, the top will wobble, too.

So, everyone take a moment to evaluate your four rooms. This is an exercise that I ask my Wicca students to do. What is your physical state at this moment? Your mental, emotional, and spiritual states as well? Evaluate each room and describe what you are satisfied with, as well as what changes need to be made to get to where you want to be.

I felt like I had to stage a siege and take back my rolling house. My eating habits and lack of exercise were out of control. I was stressed and emotionally overworked. All prohibiting me from reconnecting spiritually.

I first heard about the concept of ley lines in Kim Harrison’s fictional book, Dead Witch Walking. In her series about a world transformed when humans were nearly eradicated due to food source contamination, the witches, werewolves, vampires, and fairies came out to live in mainstream reality. Ley lines were streams that connected the everafter with the conscious world. They were bridges between worlds. Some witches could tap into ley lines and use their power to perform larger acts of magick.

In one of the email groups I participate in, someone inquired about what ley lines were, because one of his friends claimed he could tap into them. I laughed, because I knew this other guy had read one of Harrison’s books and was messing around. So, I googled ley lines, to further prove the amusement of the question. Well, I didn’t quite find what I was looking for.

In fact, ley lines do exist, though they are not gateways to the everafter. These lines are hypothetical alignments of a number of places of geological interest, such as archaeological, cultural, and magickal places.

So-called ley lines can be the product of ancient surveying, property markings, or commonly travelled pathways. Numerous societies, ancient and modern, employ straight lines between points of use; archaeologists have documented these traditions. Modern surveying also results in the placement of construction in lines on the landscape. It is reasonable to expect active areas to reflect this human use of lines.

Many cultures use straight lines across the landscape. In South America, such lines often are directed towards mountain peaks; the Nazca lines are a famous example of lengthy lines made by ancient cultures. Straight lines connect ancient pyramids in Mexico; today, modern roads built on the ancient roads deviate around the massive pyramids.

It has also been theorized that the ley lines and their intersection points naturally resonate a special psychic or magical energy.

Others believe that they correspond with underground streams and magnetic currents. According to data obtained by investigators of ley line theories, some points along the lines possess higher magnetic energy than the average geomagnetic intensity. Theories of magnetic interaction at ley line points suggest to some observers that these points were used to induct energy. Some geomantic researchers have investigated this phenomenon by studying various physical phenomena, but the data has thusfar been inconclusive.

However, just because they cannot be proved does not mean that they do not exist. However, it does make skeptics say that the existence of these lines is currently unsupported. There is a broad range of beliefs about and theories of ley lines, many of which cannot be disproved, but the scientific approach has been overlooked.

The existence of ley lines was brought into the public eye in 1921 by amateur archeologist Alfred Watkins.

The first thing that we are going to do today is a little exploratory meditation. If you would like to get into something comfortable, and find a quiet place, please do. You may want to sit on the floor. I will wait right here for you.

When you are ready, close your eyes. Listen to your breathing. As you breathe in, your stomach expands like a balloon. Breathing out, your stomach deflates. Breathe in…expand. Breathe out…deflate. Breathe in. Breathe out. Continue to focus on your breath. With each exhale, sink yourself deeper into the ground. Your legs become part of the floor. Sink deeper and deeper, until you fall through it.

Everything is dark. You feel around you, pulling the earth through your fingers. It is cool and moist. Slowly, you stand up, listening. The only sounds you hear come from the singing of the chorus of insects all around. Listen to the melody. They begin to chirp faster. As if on cue, the sun peaks up over the horizon. Your surroundings come into view. The trees, the soil, the grass. You see it all.

Then, you notice it nearly grown over by grass. A path. Curious as to where it leads, you follow it through the trees and towards the sunrise. The passage winds you through the dense trees, you lose sight of the sun many times. You see a massive hill looming ahead of you. You can see the incline long before the path takes you to its foot. Wondering whether or not you should turn back and travel the other way, you decide to take the hill on. Once you reach it, it takes several minutes to make it up to the top. The sun has made the day warmer, and breathing heavy, you stop at the crest. Immediately glad that you chose to continue, you are greeted by a small clearing in the forest. On the side of the path is a large pond. Use your hands to sip some of the clear, crisp water. Then, take a moment to sit by the pond and think.

As you continue on your journey, the tree-lined path becomes less covered with grass and other debris the farther you travel. You hear the faint creaking sound of wood. Someone is on the path…just around the corner. Whether you are excited or scared, you walk to meet whoever it is.

The noise comes from a cart along the trail. Pushed by a lovely maiden, it is full of many intriguing and mystical things. She greets you with a smile and asks you for your name. You tell her. A gift for your travels, she says. And, after looking around the cart for a moment, she pulls something out and gives it to you. What does she give you? You thank the maiden, and you both part ways.

The day gets brighter as you walk into the sun. You can seen nothing but white. It is so bright, that you open your eyes.

Now, think about what the maiden gave you, what it means, and how you can use it, if possible.

If you enjoyed this meditation, and would like to explore your own potential through meditation, Lady Saria is teaching a meditation course this semester at our school. Fireflyacademy.org for more information.

Our existence is divided up into four areas… or four rooms… if you will. Imagine that you live in a big house with four rooms. Your house includes: 1.) a large… green kitchen with a small garden off of the side; 2.) a bright yellow living room with a large… private balcony… 3.) a luxurious… blue bathroom with a jacuzzi tub; 4.) and a cozy… red bedroom with a fireplace (do not forget the king-sized bed). Each of the four elements corresponds with one of these rooms… and each of these rooms corresponds with a part of you.

As our quest continues to learn more about ourselves… taking a look at each of our four rooms at a regular interval may help us identify patterns in our lives. Through including a four rooms account in our spiritual journal… or keeping a separate journal altogether… we can better decipher our hopes… fears… goals… strengths… weaknesses… and events in the past that we are holding onto. As we identify these instances in our lives… we can make better use of them… or make the move to discard them.

The physical room includes all of that which is tangible, but possibly not visible. Examine the status of your body, internally and externally, including how you feel about this part of you. You may be as general or as specific as necessary. Also, if applicable, include information about characteristics that you would like to change and how you would better server yourself to change them. The goal is to become more aware of what is going on in that huge mass of organ systems you call home.

The mental room takes a look at the inner workings of your mind. Explore your thoughts, stress, achievements, and how you generally feel mentally. Again, look at what exists, what you would like to change, and how you would go about changing it.

The emotional room is not just how your emotions are playing out at the moment. This area includes your dreams, fears, intuition, relationships, general emotional status, as well as any zones you would like to adjust and how you should go about adjusting them.

The spiritual room is an account of the status of our individual journeys. This entry touches on our connection with the divine, the earth, our magickal relationships, our studies, as well as how we feel we need to redecorate this room.

When one of the rooms needs a little work, it us up to you to fix it. Life cannot be like “While You Were Out,” in which a designer spends network funds to redo a room in your house while they lure you away on a vacation. However, our rooms differ little from those in a real house. When the paint is chipped, the furniture is rotten, and the carpet is in need off a good cleaning, there is no calling the landlord on this job. You just have to put on those overalls and get to work. When one of your four rooms needs a little work, sometimes all it takes is a little motivation, concentration, and T.L.C.

Each and every one of us has the image of a person in their heads that they would like to emanate. This person does not necessarily exist in real life… however it is the person that we aspire to be. One of the goals of Wicca is to look down inside ourselves and use our will to make the necessary changes we need to make in order to have a better quality of life. By consistently completing a four rooms assessment… you are able to not only identify these changes that need to be made… but hold yourself accountable for them… as well as to monitor your progress.

So… take out a piece of notebook paper… or open up an empty word processing document on your computer… and let us get started. I will write down my four rooms along with you… but your entries can contain more or less detail than mine.